Six Lessons In: What Learning to Swim as an Adult Actually Looks Like

Most adults who message us to ask about lessons have been meaning to for years. The usual line is some version of: I never learned as a kid, my children swim better than me, and I am tired of standing in the shallow end on holiday.

So what actually happens once you book? Here is what a first block of six private lessons looks like for a typical adult beginner, using one of our recent students as the example. This is the review they left after their sixth session:

Coach Alvin has been patient and clear in his beginner adult private classes with us (with a sprinkle of humour here and there), and is open to feedback and flexibility in class schedule arrangements. We've progressed quite a bit after 6 classes, especially in terms of the core strokes (front crawl, frog, survival backstroke, treading water) and overcame the discomfort of being in the deep ends with his focus on safety. Looking forward to future sessions!

Four strokes and the deep end in six lessons sounds like a lot. It is less about talent than about the order things are taught in.

Lesson one is not about swimming

Nobody swims a length in their first lesson, and I would be suspicious of any coach who promised it. The first hour is about getting comfortable: standing in chest-deep water, putting the face in, blowing out through the nose, and finding out that the body floats when you stop trying to hold it up. Adults are usually surprised by that last part. Floating is a skill you learn by relaxing, not a trait you were born without.

We also spend time on the thing most adults are quietly worried about, which is looking foolish. Private lessons help here. It is you, a coach, sometimes a spouse or friend, and a kickboard.

Why survival strokes come before front crawl

The order in the review above is not an accident. We teach treading water and survival backstroke early, before a beginner has a proper front crawl, because those two skills are what keep you safe if you find yourself out of your depth. Once someone can stay afloat calmly for a minute, the deep end stops being a threat and starts being just more water.

Front crawl and breaststroke, which most people think of as swimming, come after. Breaststroke, or the frog kick as many students call it, is usually the first stroke an adult can hold for a length because the breathing is easier. Front crawl takes longer because the breathing has to be timed to the arm stroke, and that coordination is the single hardest thing in the first six weeks.

The deep end

Every adult beginner has a moment with the deep end. We do not push anyone in; we move the lesson gradually towards the drop-off, always with the skills to cope already in place. By the time a student is treading water and doing survival backstroke at the shallow end, moving into deeper water is a small step rather than a leap. The discomfort the review mentions is normal, and getting past it is the point of the first block.

What six lessons gets you, realistically

At the end of a first block, a typical adult beginner can float on the front and back, tread water, cover the width of the pool on breaststroke and survival backstroke, and is working on front crawl with the breathing coming together. They are safe in deep water. They are not yet a strong swimmer, and anyone who tells you six lessons makes you one is selling something.

The second block is where front crawl becomes a proper stroke and the distances go up.

If you are still putting it off

Adults learn faster than they expect. You already understand instructions, you can control your breathing when told to, and you are motivated in a way a six-year-old is not. The awkwardness of the first lesson lasts about ten minutes. Details of our adult swimming lessons, including private and group options and venues across the west, are on that page, or message us and we will find a slot.

Alvin Ng is Head Coach at Swim Masters Singapore. Coaches are NROC-certified and MOE-registered. The review quoted above is published on our Google Business Profile and reproduced with the reviewer's name withheld.